A 2005 graduate of Monacan High School in Chesterfield County and now a retired army Sergeant, Shane Ortega is one of 11 transgender individuals to be featured in the new HBO documentary, “The Trans List.”

Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, the documentary premiered on Monday and explores the experiences and lives of 11 transgender Americans. The 11 individuals profiled come from all walks of life and backgrounds and are everything from athletes, to models, to actors, to entrepreneurs.

Each of them share their thoughts and give insight to trans rights, equality and their personal struggles and accomplishments.

Ortega was a U.S. Army Sergeant serving at Wheeler Airfield in Oahu, Hawaii as a helicopter crew chief in the Army’s 25th Infantry Division and the first openly serving trans person. Ortega served three combat tours, one in Afghanistan and two in Iraq, two as a woman and one as a man. You can read more on Ortega and his experience as a transgender individual in the military here.

Besides Ortega,”The Trans list” features in depth interviews with the following people:

Kylar Broadus: Associate professor of business law at Lincoln University of Missouri and the first openly transgender individual to testify before the U.S. Senate.

Caroline Cossey: English model and trans woman who was the first to post for Playboy.

Nicole Maines: Transgender teenager who was awarded $75,000 in a landmark discrimination lawsuit against her school in Maine that forced the student to use a staff restroom rather than a facility reserved for students. The case is the first time a state’s highest court ruled that a transgender person has the right to use the bathroom of the gender they identity with.

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy: Executive Director for the Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project and trans woman activist and community leader for transgender rights, with a particular focus on women of color.

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